CVE-2026-43080
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
l2tp: Drop large packets with UDP encap
syzbot reported a WARN on my patch series [1]. The actual issue is an overflow of 16-bit UDP length field, and it exists in the upstream code. My series added a debug WARN with an overflow check that exposed the issue, that's why syzbot tripped on my patches, rather than on upstream code.
syzbot's repro:
r0 = socket$pppl2tp(0x18, 0x1, 0x1) r1 = socket$inet6_udp(0xa, 0x2, 0x0) connect$inet6(r1, &(0x7f00000000c0)={0xa, 0x0, 0x0, @loopback, 0xfffffffc}, 0x1c) connect$pppl2tp(r0, &(0x7f0000000240)=@pppol2tpin6={0x18, 0x1, {0x0, r1, 0x4, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, {0xa, 0x4e22, 0xffff, @ipv4={'\x00', '\xff\xff', @empty}}}}, 0x32) writev(r0, &(0x7f0000000080)=[{&(0x7f0000000000)="ee", 0x34000}], 0x1)
It basically sends an oversized (0x34000 bytes) PPPoL2TP packet with UDP encapsulation, and l2tp_xmit_core doesn't check for overflows when it assigns the UDP length field. The value gets trimmed to 16 bites.
Add an overflow check that drops oversized packets and avoids sending packets with trimmed UDP length to the wire.
syzbot's stack trace (with my patch applied):
len >= 65536u WARNING: ./include/linux/udp.h:38 at udp_set_len_short include/linux/udp.h:38 [inline], CPU#1: syz.0.17/5957 WARNING: ./include/linux/udp.h:38 at l2tp_xmit_core net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c:1293 [inline], CPU#1: syz.0.17/5957 WARNING: ./include/linux/udp.h:38 at l2tp_xmit_skb+0x1204/0x18d0 net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c:1327, CPU#1: syz.0.17/5957 Modules linked in: CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 5957 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:udp_set_len_short include/linux/udp.h:38 [inline] RIP: 0010:l2tp_xmit_core net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c:1293 [inline] RIP: 0010:l2tp_xmit_skb+0x1204/0x18d0 net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c:1327 Code: 0f 0b 90 e9 21 f9 ff ff e8 e9 05 ec f6 90 0f 0b 90 e9 8d f9 ff ff e8 db 05 ec f6 90 0f 0b 90 e9 cc f9 ff ff e8 cd 05 ec f6 90 <0f> 0b 90 e9 de fa ff ff 44 89 f1 80 e1 07 80 c1 03 38 c1 0f 8c 4f RSP: 0018:ffffc90003d67878 EFLAGS: 00010293 RAX: ffffffff8ad985e3 RBX: ffff8881a6400090 RCX: ffff8881697f0000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000034010 RDI: 000000000000ffff RBP: dffffc0000000000 R08: 0000000000000003 R09: 0000000000000004 R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffff520007acf00 R12: ffff8881baf20900 R13: 0000000000034010 R14: ffff8881a640008e R15: ffff8881760f7000 FS: 000055557e81f500(0000) GS:ffff8882a9467000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000200000033000 CR3: 00000001612f4000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 Call Trace:
pppol2tp_sendmsg+0x40a/0x5f0 net/l2tp/l2tp_ppp.c:302 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:727 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:742 [inline] sock_write_iter+0x503/0x550 net/socket.c:1195 do_iter_readv_writev+0x619/0x8c0 fs/read_write.c:-1 vfs_writev+0x33c/0x990 fs/read_write.c:1059 do_writev+0x154/0x2e0 fs/read_write.c:1105 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x14d/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f636479c629 Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007ffffd4241c8 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000014 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f6364a15fa0 RCX: 00007f636479c629 RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000200000000080 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007f6364832b39 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00007f6364a15fac R14: 00007f6364a15fa0 R15: 00007f6364a15fa0
[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260226201600.222044-1-alice.kernel@fastmail.im/
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
An integer overflow of the 16-bit UDP length field in the Linux kernel's L2TP subsystem allows oversized packets to be sent, potentially causing a kernel crash or WARN on debug builds.
Vulnerability
Overview The L2TP subsystem in the Linux kernel fails to validate the size of packets when using UDP encapsulation. The function l2tp_xmit_core does not check for overflows before assigning the 16-bit UDP length field, allowing an attacker to send packets larger than 65535 bytes (0xFFFF). This causes an integer overflow, trimming the length value and potentially triggering a kernel WARN or crash on debug builds, as reported by syzbot [1].
Exploitation
Conditions An attacker on a local system can exploit this by creating a PPPoL2TP socket with UDP encapsulation and sending a packet with a payload size exceeding 65535 bytes (e.g., 0x34000 bytes in the syzbot reproducer). No special privileges beyond the ability to create and use L2TP sockets are required, but the attacker must have network access to the target host via loopback or a connected interface [1].
Impact
A successful exploit causes a kernel WARN (on debug kernels) or may lead to undefined behavior, including system instability or a crash, as the truncated UDP length causes the kernel to misbehave when processing the packet. This effectively denies service to the affected system.
Mitigation
The fix adds an overflow check in l2tp_xmit_skb (and related paths) that drops oversized packets before they reach the wire. Patches have been applied to multiple stable kernel branches; users should update to the latest kernel versions that include the commit [1] [2] [3] [4]. The vulnerability does not have a known KEV listing at this time.
AI Insight generated on May 18, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.
References
5- git.kernel.org/stable/c/77c1489398c85a844f90205f5e76fd6bc8bb4089nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/86534c97abd6365a9a021fd767a2023e63c44469nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ccce02d501335f59a02f26c878c5e095b16302fnvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ebe560ea5f54134279356703e73b7f867c89db13nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f295fe86e22ff0a2ecebf05e30a387e5cf6f6ddcnvd
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